Sarah Carr urges Government to 'Think Again' over Post Office Closures in formal response to Consultation

1.28.02pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 6th Oct 2008

Sarah Carr and her daughter Ella stand side by side with residents from Redhill in support of their post office.

Sarah Carr, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Hereford and South Herefordshire today slammed the Post Office Closure Plan for Herefordshire in her formal response to the government consultation.

In her response, Sarah Carr detailed the arguments of thousands of ordinary hard working residents who have contacted her over the last six weeks of the consultation, the overwhelming majority of whom want to see their local post office stay open.

The five post offices currently open but marked for closure in the Hereford and South Herefordshire constituency are Redhill Post Office, Llangrove post office, Bishopswood post office, and Tudorville post office which the consultation proposes to replace with an 'urban outreach' and Dorstone post office where a 'mobile outreach' service is proposed.

Sarah Carr said:

"It is idiotic in the extreme to be even thinking of closing post offices in our county at a time when so many of our public services are under threat from this Closure Culture that seems to exist. We should be encouraging a greater diversity of services from these important community businesses, not shutting them down.

"I have written today in my response to the consultation summarising the views of thousands of people who I have been campaigning alongside trying to save their local post office. I believe there is persuasive evidence for the five post offices currently open but listed for closure to force the government to think again. I will not rest until we have fought these ill thought out proposals as hard as we possibly can. The game is most definitely not over."